Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley aims to cut $1 billion

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley picks red okra at the CASA community garden Monday, July 30, 2012 in Huntsville, Ala. Bentley was there to help the longest-running garden in Alabama celebrate the 200,000 pounds of produce the garden has grown in its lifetime. The produce grown is donated to local charities. (The Huntsville Times/Eric Schultz)

POINT CLEAR — Gov. Robert Bentley is a politician, not a scientist. But Bentley’s law of physics goes something like this: Government always expands to meet the amount of money you give it.

“Y’all remember that,” Bentley said Saturday, addressing members of the Business Council of Alabama. “That’s exactly what happens with government. There’s no stopping it, as long as you feed it.”

Bentley, 69, is putting the clamps on government in ways rarely seen in American politics — even in cash-poor Alabama.

The governor who famously refuses to take a paycheck said his administration has set an ambitious goal to cut $1 billion in annual spending out of Alabama’s budget. Just 18 months into office, Bentley said he’s already slashed more than $675 million.

These cuts to popular programs and workers — the state has trimmed 9 percent of its government workforce, he said — should come at a high political price. But Bentley, a frugal, plainspoken Republican from Tuscaloosa, enjoys some of the highest approval ratings of any elected official from Huntsville to Mobile. One recent poll showed three out of four voters statewide had a favorable impression of him.

And Bentley, who grew up the son of a Shelby County sawmiller, is embracing his role as Alabama’s new face of austerity.

On Saturday, he stood before a well-heeled audience of about 500 at the Grand Hotel resort and preached a sermon on the value of thrift. Quoting from scripture, he cited the first chapter of James, verse 2, which reads “ Brothers, count it all joy when trials come into your life.”

“If you read two or three of those verses, what it’s talking about is when we have difficulties in our lives, it makes us stronger. And so we ought to be thankful,” he said.

Alabama will end its fiscal year on Sept. 30 as one of three states without a balance to carry over into 2013, and state officials already have cut more than 10 percent of the General Fund budget through proration. Bentley, however, said the crisis is an opportunity to remake state government.

“Instead of us saying, this is the one of the worst times we’ve ever had in state government, and instead of us asking how on earth will we get through these difficult times, let’s count it as joy,” he said. “Let’s count it as joy, because it gives us an opportunity to streamline government. Because when you have all the money you need, you’ll never be able to get it done.”

Bentley offered a strong endorsement of a constitutional amendment that would take $435 million from the Alabama Trust Fund over the next three years to address shortfalls in the general fund. Alabama voters will go to the polls on Sept. 18 to decide on the measure.

“We’ve done a lot. But we’re still going to be short,” he said. “All we need is a little bridge to get to the other side.”

BCA's board voted Friday to support the proposal, despite labeling it as a “temporary and imperfect” solution to the state’s budget woes.

Bentley said taxpayers should have faith that he and Republican leaders in the Alabama House and Senate will be good stewards of their money.

“We’re doing everything that you expect us to do as Republicans to right-size government. There is no group that has ever done what we are attempting to do,” he said. “We may not have the most money, but we’re going to do things right.”